EVALUATION OF A STANDARDIZED EXTRACT OF GINKGO BILOBA IN VITILIGO REMEDY

Introduction Vitiligo is a common acquired, idiopathic skin disorder, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Ginkgo biloba in patients with vitiligo. Material and Methods Fifty persons were included, twelve patients received Ginkgo biloba capsule (75mg) twice daily compared with twelve patients received placebo capsule for 8 weeks at Al-Kadhimyia Teaching Hospital. Twenty six healthy volunteers considered as control. Patient's history was taken and measurement of neutrophils percentage, serum Glutathione (Elleman methods), Malonialdehyde (Stocks and Dormandy methods), Interlukine -6 (Elisa) and Vitiligo area scoring index (VASI) at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks interval, as a parameters to indicate the impact of Ginkgo biloba on the disease. Results and discussion showed significant decrease in serum interlukin-6 (S. IL-6) after 4 weeks between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group. No significant difference was found in Neutrophils percent between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks. There was a significant increase in serum glutathione (S. GSH) after 4 and 8 weeks in Ginkgo biloba. Serum malondialdehyde (S. MDA) showed no significant difference between Ginkgo biloba group and placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks and no changes in VASI were found after 8 weeks between Ginkgo biloba and placebo group. Conclusion Ginkgo biloba may has good activity in vitiligo treatment. Keywords : Ginkgo biloba , vitiligo, antioxidant.